| 1 | Heat oven to 375°F. |
| 2 | Rinse pheasants and pat dry. |
| 3 | Remove any excess fat from body and neck cavities. |
| 4 | Reserve necks and giblets. |
| 5 | Loosen skin from the breast meat of each pheasant with your fingers, with knife, cut peel or rind and all membrane off 1 orange; cut peeled orange crosswise into ?inch-thick slices. |
| 6 | Reserve peel. |
| 7 | Place half of the orange slices on breast meat under the skin of each bird. |
| 8 | Tuck wing tips under back to hold neck skin down. |
| 9 | Place 1 carrot quarter, 1 onion quarter, and half of the orange peel inside each body cavity. |
| 10 | Using kitchen string, tie the legs of each pheasant together. |
| 11 | In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter; remove from heat. |
| 12 | Place pheasants, breast sides up, on rack in a large roasting pan. |
| 13 | Brush birds all over with melted butter. |
| 14 | Set aside pan with any leftover butter. |
| 15 | Roast the birds 30 minutes. |
| 16 | Meanwhile, in saucepan with leftover butter, brown reserved necks and giblets. |
| 17 | Add remaining onion and carrot quarters; saute 1 minute. |
| 18 | Add water; heat to boiling. |
| 19 | Partially cover pan; simmer giblet mixture over medium heat 45 minutes or until liquid is reduced by almost a third. |
| 20 | Brush birds with pan drippings. |
| 21 | Turn each bird on its side; cover breasts with pieces of aluminum foil. |
| 22 | Continue to roast birds 15 minutes. |
| 23 | Turn birds to roast on other side; roast 15 to 20 minutes longer orjust until juices run clear when thighs are pierced with a fork and breast meat near wing joint cut parallel to the bone is white with a touch of pink but no longer wet and soft. |
| 24 | While pheasants are roasting, prepare rice following package direc- tions, if desired. |
| 25 | Drain body-cavity juices from birds into roasting pan; cut string off birds. |
| 26 | Transfer birds to a serving platter; surround with hot cooked rice blend; keep warm. |
| 27 | Add giblet mixture to the roasting pan; heat and stir to loosen browned-on bits from the bottom of the pan. |
| 28 | Strain mixture into a 4-cup measuring cup or bowl; discard particles. |
| 29 | Spoon off fat from top of strained liquid. |
| 30 | You should have 2 cups liquid; if not, add water or chicken broth. |
| 31 | In 2-quart saucepan, heat sugar and vinegar to boiling, stirring often until sugar dissolves. |
| 32 | Continue to boil sugar mixture or syrup until golden brown or it caramelizes 3 to 5 minutes. |
| 33 | Remove from heat; set aside. |
| 34 | In cup, combine wine and cornstarch; stir into syrup in sauce- pan. |
| 35 | Whisk in strained 2 c liquid and salt; return to heat and boil, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. |
| 36 | Brush some sauce over birds; pour remainder into small pitcher. |
| 37 | Peel and thinly slice remaining orange. |
| 38 | Arrange over pheasant breasts. |
| 39 | To carve, using sharp knife, remove the legs and thighs from the birds. |
| 40 | Cut the drumsticks from the thighs. |
| 41 | Thinly slice the breasts off the bone. |
| 42 | Pass sauce with the meat. |
| 43 | country living holidays/92 scanned & fixed by di pahl & |
